MechaTop ready for shipment
over 2 years ago
– Mon, Sep 06, 2021 at 02:32:47 PM
Dear Pilot!
We are so excited to have seen and touched the mass production of MechaTop!!! 🥳
...a dream that was born in August 2017 that has come to fruition in its majesty in front of our eyes today! 😍
Take a look at what we received:
In addition to the 1,000 base sets (800 in English and 200 in Italian) we received 500 playmats, 500 loose rulebooks, 500 sets of custom dice, 500 decks of solo mode cards, and 1,000 octagonal bases. 🤓
It took us all day to get all these boxes set up inside the house... 😅
Tetris advanced level! 🤣
Tomorrow we are going to proceed with the first shipments: as specified in the previous update, the shipping order will be purely random (1d6 + 1d20) while for those who can not wait you can offer us 5 coffee through the platform "Buy me a coffee" or a membership on Patreon.
So our shipping schedule for tomorrow will be as follows:
1- Gualtiero who purchased a membership on Patreon
2- Allen Robert, 3- David and 4- Massimo:
...and 5- Craig (from Canada) who was choosed by dice. 🥰
Why only 5?
We want to familiarize ourselves with the procedure, with all the bureaucratic paperwork for customs and above all check that the price they have communicated to us is really the one they will invoice us for... Because of the Chinese producers we don't trust anyone anymore. 😢
We have an intense season of mecha battles ahead of us!!! 🤩
(Follow in our socials to stay update with our initiatives)
See you soon and have a nice week!
MechaTop team
It's done!!! MechaTop is available! (Quick update)
over 2 years ago
– Sat, Sep 04, 2021 at 06:28:00 AM
Dear pilot,
we are pleased to inform you that this morning at 10:30 the mass production of MechaTop arrived at our hub in Imola (BO) - ITALY!!! 🥳
Unfortunately, however, we can not access their warehouse premises because we don't have safety shoes... 😢
In addition to their restrictive work hours and the distance from our homes...
...we decided to have it delivered to our homes (we will share it since it is almost 9 cubic meters of material) and proceed with the shipments without all these limitations. 😎
They will deliver the materials to us on Monday morning and then we will proceed immediately with shipping. 📦📦📦📦📦
What order will we follow to prepare the first 120 parcels with a confirmed address?
- The (nonsensical) order proposed by BackerKit?
- From highest value rewards to lowest value rewards?
- Based on confirmation of shipping address?
- Based on the bet on Kickstarter...?
We discussed this internally and ultimately decided to follow a random order:
Since there are 120 confirmed addresses, BackerKit divides them into 6 pages of 20 backers each.
So first we will roll a d6, to identify the page and then a d20 to identify the backer.
But, if you just can't wait, you can prioritize your shipment by simply offering us 5 coffees through the portal:
As you know we have faced some unforeseen expenses and your possible support is more than welcome.
Thanks for your attention, have a nice weekend!
MechaTop team
The last twist
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Aug 27, 2021 at 02:26:19 AM
Good morning pilot,
we are pleased to inform you that the vessel has reached the port of Genoa on schedule and the goods have begun the customs inspection process.
We will receive the entire supply by the end of next week. 🥳
However, there was a snag, an additional "gift" from the Chinese supplier, which due to a customs declaration error will cost us an additional 3k to unblock it.
In addition, we'll have to pay another 1,000€ for transportation since the supplier only paid up to customs... (Even though we were told that the amount we paid them for shipping was up to our hub.)
For a total of 4,170€ 😱
An amount that we will probably recover over the next few months through legal actions but that currently creates a problem for us.
Are backers/pre-orders shipments at risk?
NO, at the moment there are barely enough funds left to cover all the confirmed shipments. But we are confident: we are continuing to sell PDFs and we hope to slowly recover all the funds we need to complete the shipments that have not yet been confirmed. We will no longer use the parcel preparation service offered by our hub (1,4€ saved per parcel) but we will make them with our own hands and with a lot of love. 🥰
Hey, we don't want to be the kind of company that asks you for more money just a moment before sending you the reward. We are "the guys" 😎 (as some of you call us on socials) and we have made our dream come true with your valuable support! 🥳
As you surely have guessed, MechaTop in fact has not yet brought us any earnings, on the contrary we had to invest a considerable amount of money to be able to prepare it and every month to cover the various expenses of the office, warehouse, etc. ... (In the next, probably last update, we will tell you in detail the whole story of this project started in August 2017)
What is at risk, however, is the upcoming Kickstarter: the idea of starting from zero investing more money and then working all this time for free is not really liked by the whole team 😅
Kickstarter, moreover, is not even what it used to be: pre-covid any board game made at least 1MLN...
Now things have changed and we must try to adapt to new market needs.
Take for example our next project: MechaTop Space ships. The basic set should contain at least 2/3 spaceships of 12/16 cm at a cost of about 90/99€... But if you don't like one of the spaceships? Why would you buy a product that you are only 66% convinced of?
So, we had the idea to start involving our buyers from the beginning of the design, so that we can create together. 🤗
During the last Kickstarter campaign do you remember the surveys to choose the dice, to define the next stretch goals, etc.?
In the same way, through the use of certain platforms, it will be possible to participate in the creation of MechaTop Space Ships, choosing the artists, the design of the various factions... Up to creating the boardgame and apart from the various models of spaceships to choose from.
These platforms require a membership that, even if very cheap, would already give us an idea of how many of you are interested in getting the mecha transport ships on the playing field and so we can evaluate if it really suits us to try to publish this expansion as well or if we should just keep it for ourselves.
We therefore compared the classic Patreon with the new "Buy me a coffee" and in the end we realized both 😁
Through the membership you will get the same information and voting rights both through Patreon and "Buy me a coffee", the latter in addition gives us the possibility to sell video communication services or commissions.
Finally we want to show you some of our "Ready to play" models that we have put on sale for the need of room: the spaceships that we are playtesting are really huge...
An Instagram live of a few days ago with Francesca! 🥰
Has the vessel reached the port of Genoa?
over 2 years ago
– Fri, Aug 20, 2021 at 12:39:09 AM
Dear Pilot,
not yet...
currently the Vessel is in Greece:
...And it's exactly where it should be!
Just this morning, in fact, we have been contacted by the customs that will receive our goods on the 27th. (We immediately started working on the paperwork to speed up customs operations)
It's really strange that the Chinese manufacturer gave us a wrong timeline again? Isn't it? 🙄
We take advantage of this quick update to share the video of the in-depth explanation of the cockpit control system, made by Christian last month, but that we had forgotten to share with you!
As usual, you can choose to save it and watch it again later when you receive your physical copy of MechaTop.
The video also explains what are the most common mistakes that are made: recommended for even the most experienced MechaTop players.
Have a nice day
MechaTop team
Shipment progress
over 2 years ago
– Wed, Aug 18, 2021 at 02:13:27 PM
Good morning dear pilot,
we are so excited to see the navigation progress that we decided to write a new update.
Also because in last Friday's, we received as many as 18 address confirmations and this is the way to go!
This is the current position after stopping for 9 hours at the port of Suez:
The ship is expected to reach the port of Genoa in Italy on August 19, then we expect a week for customs operations.... And after that we'll start shipping your rewards! 🥳
So you only have a few days left if you have decided to add something to your order!
You can still take advantage of one-time shipping to add (for example):
- Special deck for SOLO MODE: very comfortable when playing alone;
- The hardcover Campaign Book #1: You might be interested in the history of MechaTop: here is the timeline up to now:
- Additional octagonal bases: gradually you will see the army of your models grow and you will need more bases...
- The official MechaTop Brave Pilots t-shirt: made at the request of some fans, after they saw Christian wearing it in the last unboxing video.
- Lots of other items including ready to play models, resin scenic elements...
As already happened for other items (buildings, cars, small bases...) that went out of stock could happen the same for these too...
So if you like something don't let it go and take advantage of the one-time shipping.
